Ten at 10: Brand New - ‘Daisy’ Ten Years On…

23 September 2019

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Brand New’s fourth record ‘Daisy’ was produced by long-term collaborator Mike Sapone at his New York studio. This record almost seemed to go under the radar in the music world with eyes still on the band’s hugely popular previous album, ‘The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me’, but how do you follow up such an album?! Brand New answered this with ‘Daisy’.

Guitarist Vincent Accardi stepped up and took a more pivotal role in writing ‘Daisy’ along with frontman Jessie Lacey, as they set out to put out an album that emulated their gigantic, raw live sound. They achieved this with great effect and created an album that showcases the solid songwriting skills that they’d become renowned for. Whilst leaning on a very commercial sound overall, the end product being arguably some of their finest work to date.

Much like ‘Science Fiction’ (2017), ‘Daisy’ makes apt use of old tape recordings, reportedly found by Jessie, which set the haunting tone of the album. The standout big-hitters are ‘At The Bottom’, ‘Gasoline’ and ‘Bought A Bride’, with the band telling its stories in a way that only they know, carrying us through each song with huge industrial drums from Brian Lane and stunning guitar work from Vinny and Jessie. Other mentions are title track ‘Daisy’ and the unforgettable ‘You Stole’, the former with a crescendo so noisy and brutal you can’t help screw your face up and bang your head to. The record concludes with ‘Noro’, which explores the same ferocious instrumentation as the rest of the record and the damning chants of ‘I’m on my way to hell’.

The truth is, as with any of Brand New’s work, this album could be explored in great depth and in a world of streaming and ‘quick hits’, ‘Daisy’ is best digested from start to finish as the listener is taken on an emotional roller-coaster, with each song exploring some of the darkest corners both lyrically and sonically that Brand New have ever gone.